And Life Goes On, But I'll Always Be Waiting
by The Maiden of Autumn
Summary: He was never going to come back; she knew that. She had watched him die- and people like him didn't just come back from the dead. But it didn't stop her from staring into the sunset that was red as his eyes, after checking all the coffins of those that had died that day even though she knew he wasn't going to be in it, hoping he'd come back. VincentxYuffie
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The Maiden of Autumn owns nothing

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She sat on the top of the building.

_Like she had sat on the balcony of the Highwind and heard metal footsteps behind her, being deliberately noisy- he was always silent, unless he wanted to be heard, and her heart gave a leap because he had forgiven her and cared enough to sit by her._

She looked down at her shoes, the bright orange of them, and couldn't help but wish that next to her were-

_golden, pointy, plated, stupid-looking shoes that he always wore._

And she looked up to the sunset-

_That was red as his eyes, although his eyes were much more beautiful than the sunset could ever hope to be._

It was after the battle-

_She remembered the first time she had fought alongside him, and she was awed by his sheer power, his grace as he put bullet after bullet into the behemoth, and afterwards, she was the first one he checked up on, made sure she was okay before he moved onto the next person._

And she felt so angry-

_Whenever she was angry, he took her out in the middle of the night, and watched and made sure she was okay as he stood back and watched her take her frustrations out on the stupid monsters that had been born thanks to the moronic man that had been the cause of this, not him, never him, even though he blamed it all on himself._

So much pointless death-

_She had sobbed into his cape and he had held her close with his clawed hand that he hated, but she never would because it meant he would never be totally defenseless, and that he would never die, and stroked her hair with his normal right as she wept after seeing the destruction and carnage the WEAPON had caused._

So many people taken away in coffins-

_And she had almost screamed when they opened the coffin and there was a man in there, but didn't scream because as soon as his eyes opened she was mesmerized by the beauty of them, and although he hated them, and called them the color of blood, all she saw was the kindness and pain hidden behind them, and those things only made the uniqueness of the eyes more beautiful._

She hated coffins, now.

_"You better not be sleeping in there! If you are, I'll drag your ass out! We need to talk! You're not going to sleep your life away in a coffin just so you can avoid me because you think that you're not good enough for me. Because I tell you, if you plan on sleeping for the next eternity, by God, I swear I'll crawl into one of these empty coffins and do the same thing!" And the coffin flew open and he had grabbed her and flew upstairs because he knew she would make good on her threat, and unlike him, she would die, not sleep, and he couldn't bear the thought of that happening._

Because no matter how many she opened, no matter how much she hoped, he was not going to be in one, was not going to open those beautiful crimson eyes and tell her how much he missed her in that damnably sexy low voice of his- she had already checked each coffin before it was buried.

_He sung her to sleep most nights, after all the rest of Avalanche was asleep, passed out from sheer exhaustion, and she had had a nightmare, and couldn't sleep. He sung to her in Wutaiin, a silly lullaby that he told her his mother used to sing when he couldn't sleep, and she always feel asleep when he sang, with no more nightmares._

The dead, pale faces in the coffins haunted her-

_His face was unnaturally pale, but it worked for him, with his beautiful features, much more so than hers, and his black hair, and crimson eyes, and even though she knew he was prettier than her, when he told her she was the most perfect thing in his life, she believed it. Because he would never, ever, never lie to her._

And no one, not even Squall, especially not Squall-

_"I'll never love another, you know. Ninja love only happens once. And guess what, Vinnie? You're the proud receiver of the Single White Rose of Wutai's special ninja love!" And he had just smiled, because he knew that what she said was true, because she would never, ever, never lie to him._

Could comfort her.

_And he held her tight and rocked her after Aerith died, because no one as good and sweet and kind as Aerith deserved to die, and the image of that long blade protruding out of the girl's stomach haunted her and she felt better as she was held in strong arms, even as she knew he mourned as well, but it wasn't his fault. Could never be his fault, as it was that _woman's _fault, for making him what he is today, and she had agreed to the experiment after all. She smiled sadly as a tear that was not her own fell onto her cheek, and she held it up for him to see, because monsters couldn't cry, and he did, so he was wrong._

Squall was simple to read.

_He was so complicated. She was sure she could spend years picking him apart, and still never truly understand him. But that was okay. Because there wasn't any other way she would want to spend those years._

And when he thought, one could basically hear the wheels turning in his head.

_He was silent. Like, so silent, even his silence was silence. There were the dot dot dot's, yes, but other than that, there was nothing. Usually, she was able to tell why people were silent, whether it be because that person was thinking, or simply had nothing to say. But when he was silent, it was unreadable. Like, he was an emotionless void. But she smiled as she thought that, because she was the only one who could make that silence go away, and fill it with sound. And he was the only one who could make such peaceful silent silence._

You could hear the wheels grinding in Squall's head, and the silence yet not silence was loud enough to give her a migraine.

_"Hey Vinnie!" … "Betcha I can make you do something other than dot dot dot!" … "Here, lemme try!" Oomph! "Yuffie!" "Hee, toldja I could! And see, hugs make everything better! Or was it a glomp? Doesn't matter. Can I have some materia for winning the bet?"_

She had tried kissing him up here before, once.

_The first time they had kissed, it was after he had transformed into Chaos for the first time, and he was still gagging, even though he had thrown up all the blood and washed his mouth out with mouthwash like 5 times and she had gotten tired of him gagging and to ease his mind she had gotten up and kissed him. He had been shocked at first, but he had responded, and it was messy and awkward, and the farthest thing from perfect, yet because it was so far from perfect, it was perfect._

But, he wasn't him. His lips were chapped-

_Smooth lips glided over hers-_

And his tongue didn't make the right movements-

_He always slid his tongue over her lips first, before slipping in and gliding along her teeth, making her moan, and using that to tangle his tongue with hers-_

And it was the wrong temperature; too cold-

_And his mouth was so hot, hot hot, like she would burst into flames, but that was okay, because maybe they would set the world on fire with their passion-_

And he tasted wrong-

_He tasted like cinnamon, like dark spices and passion and sun and everything else that she would ever want, could ever want and oh, God, the heat-!_

Because no matter how much like him Squall was- _the silence that was not silence-_

_"Hey, I just want you to know-"_

No matter how many bullets he shot from his sword- _It was too light, and too quick, not like his badass gun that was named Cerberus-_

_"That I will always-" _

No matter how graceful he was- _Too rough, her Vinnie glided when he walked, no jerky movements, even with the heavy golden gauntlet-_

_"Always-"_

No matter how stoic he was-_Vinnie never cracked a smile, or laughed for anyone else but her, and even then, it was something private, reserved for her and her only-_

_"Always-"_

No matter how much she couldn't bring herself to hate him, for being like Vinnie, and not like Vinnie –_"Ya know, Vinnie, I bet that there's a lot of people like you out there, but you know what? None of them could ever match up to you. There's never gonna be another you, so keep yourself safe so I don't have to bother finding a replacement, huh?"_

_"Love you, Vincent Valentine."_

He would never, ever be the one she loved. _– And the first time they made love it was slow and perfect, and bittersweet because the world was going to end the next day, and they were going to disappear, and she didn't know if she would see him in the Lifestream (Don't be silly, of course you will) so they treasured each moment, and when they walked back to the ship, there were no regrets._

_And he would smile, one that only she got to see, and always reached his eyes, and say, "I love you, too, Yuffie."_

And on the rooftop, on the day that she thought she might be able to die, a heartbroken ninja cried for the loss of part of her heart that she had hoped she might be able to mend, but had not, because as everyone knew, ninja love happened only once, and the Single White Rose of Wutai's special ninja love had already been given to another.

_And after the day that the world was supposed to end, they simply lay in bed next to each other, simply because they _could_, and listen to each other's heartbeat, reassuring themselves that they were both there, that this was real, and it was going to last, because by God, they were going to _make _it last._


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The Maiden of Autumn owns nothing.

-It's a bit old and not the best I've ever written, due to the fact that, well, it's old and my writing style has changed drastically since writing it, but it's not doing any good sitting on my computer, so I might as well post it instead of letting it rot. It is what it is, I suppose.

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Everything could set off a memory of him, a simple word, gesture, person, or thing. Or even planets.

She especially hated Atlantica, because-

"_C'mon, Vinnie! I brought you here so you could relax! Now, take that stupid cape off and come play with me in the ocean!"_

And she hated winged Heartless, too-

_Even in Chaos form, he was still beautiful, with those glowing, hypnotic eyes, that armor that made him look so regal, and those _wings_, oh, God, how cool those wings are, and sometimes, after a transformation, when he couldn't return to his normal form just yet, she would stroke them, feeling the soft leather of the wings and oh- how she could make him moan 'cause they were so sensitive!_

She hated all the Heartless-

_Because she cried and screamed and they had to drag her away after he pushed her out of the way, and she didn't want to go, didn't want to leave him even though she couldn't bear to see him get taken by the Heartless- and her last though before fainting was that the booming of Cerberus had long since stopped, and she still wished it had been her, not him, oh God, anyone but him!_

Damn. She had to stop remembering the past, because no matter how much she wished it-

"_It's your birthday, Vinnie! Make a wish!"_

No matter how much she hoped-

"…_Why do I need to make a wish, when I have everything I could have ever hoped for?"_

No matter how much she wanted-

"_What do you want most right now, Vinnie?_

Gods, how she wanted him-

"…_At the moment, what I want most right now is you, Yuffie."_

Vincent, lovely, gorgeous _Vincent_, her precious Vinnie, VinnieVinnieVinnieVinnie,

"_Hey, can I call you Vinnie?" … "'Cause Vincent's too stuffy of a name." … "Okey- dokey, then, Vinnie!"_

Was never going to pop up on her doorstep, like it was just natural for him to be here-

_And sometimes, when she got really bored in Wutai, she'd pop in to see him, and she'd stand there on his doorstep. She'd ring the doorbell, put a big grin on her face, and when he'd open it, his eyes would get really big, and then he would swoop her up into a kiss, and that's when she suddenly knows why she was so lonely and restless in Wutai. Because here, in his arms, was more home to her than Wutai would ever be. And one visit, she just never left there, never went back to Wutai._

Because their world hadn't been restored, and so that last faint glimmer of hope, that he would be there waiting patiently when Gaia was restored and she returned, was gone.

"_Ya know, Vinnie, even after everyone gave up looking for you after Omega, I didn't. And you know why?"_

Oh, God, all she wanted was her Vinnie back. That's all she would ever ask for!

"Because I love you, Vinnie," she whispered to the phantom of her lost love.

_And his eyes would crinkle up, and he would smile, that breathtaking, genuine smile, and pull her close, and whisper to her in Wutaiinese, "I love you as well, Yuffie."_

The crackling of the radio pulled her out of her reverie, and she wiped her tears, and got out the radio.

+_Yuffs? Yuffie, are you there?_+

"Yeah, I'm here. What can the great ninja Yuffie do for you, Squallie?"

+_I need you to go with Cloud to Castle Oblivion. We're getting weird readings from the basements there, and you two are the only ones we can spare to go._+

"Castle Oblivion, huh? Well, I've always wanted to see that castle! Tell Cid I'll be there in five!"

+_Alright, Yuffie. Be careful_.+

"Ninjas are always careful, Squallie! That's why we don't get caught! See ya in a few!"

She hung up, and brushed the dirt from her shorts, standing up. She took one last look at the castle over there, in the distance, and sighed. This was her home now, and by God, she was going to at least try to be happy here!

Jumping down from the building, she sprinted over to Cid's garage, getting there just as Cloud was arriving. Luckily, he'd crashed back down after his and Sephiroth's fight.

They could commiserate, her and Cloud. They both lost someone they loved. She had lost her vampire, and he had lost his General. They got along well, because they both knew how painful it was to not have your other half there, and so there was none of the inane, "Are you alrights?" with them. Because they both knew they were not alright, and never would be.

He simply nodded to her as she rushed in, and she smiled, even though it was hard to when there was nothing left to smile for anymore. She glomped him, and he let her, because he knew she _needed_ the contact. "Hey, Cloud! Ready to get this show on the road?"

He nodded an affirmative, and she could see the pain in his eyes, and knew that same pain was present in hers as well.

She rushed onto the ship, taking the shotgun seat, while he took the driver's- it was always like this, because back in SOLDIER, Sephiroth had always driven, and when she was with Vinnie, he had always let her drive whenever she wanted to. They did this, because doing it the other way around brought up too many painful memories.

So they drove in silence, to the World That Never Was, no Heartless ships to interfere because there were simply not that many left, and had no leader to guide them anymore.

The World That Never Was was silent, the only sounds those of their footsteps as they made their way to the looming Castle. The quietness was almost eerie, but in a way, comforting, because it meant that there were no enemies around, and it left them to their separate thoughts.

_It was as silent and dark as that basement, the one they had found after fighting the monster that popped from the safe, which they unlocked after finding the last piece of the puzzle, and the last number to the combination. The basement led down, down, down,-_

But this wasn't the mansion. And no matter how silent the streets were, instead of going down, down, down, the path led up, up, up, to the looming castle that reminded her of the ShinRa mansion, yet was not. It was so _wrong._

They approached the large doors of the castle, not bothering to be quiet because there were no Organization XIII members left; they were gone, given to the darkness, like he had been.

The colors of the castle were white and grey, which was wrong, because the colors symbolized purity and what the Nobodies were doing here in this castle was anything but pure. Their deeds had permeated and saturated the castle in darkness that remained even now.

Cloud had stopped, and she did as well, noticing only now the voices. That's right, Maleficent and that cat, Pete were here. Maleficent had promised to leave them alone, and not create any more Heartless, as long as she was also left alone, and they cleared out anything left in the castle. It worked, and so here they were, because she had sensed something odd coming from the basements.

"No, you bumbling fool, not there. Those are delicate crystals, and- Pete!"

Cloud and Yuffie simply rolled their eyes as they heard the clumsy Pete's apologies, and Maleficent's ranting. They were good for each other, in a way, like Cloud and Yuffie were for each other. Maleficent kept Pete from trying to carry out any of his diabolical plans that would never work and would just annoy, and he gave her something to boss around and take out her need to rule on him.

It worked, and that's all that mattered. Because no matter what, Pete was not going to be able to go back to Timeless River and be that simple riverboat captain, not after all he had seen and done. It would never be enough to satisfy him. And Maleficent's world had not come back, and truly, she was not evil, but stayed here, next to the darkness that she both loved and hated, to keep up the image that threatened to crumble every day.

And Sephiroth was never going to come back from his insanity and darkness, to embrace Cloud and tell him he loved him once again, that he was sorry, and everything was going to be alright.

Vinnie- God, Vinnie- was never going to be there waiting with mismatched, open arms, secretly wanting to be glomped, loved, but too reserved to openly admit it. He was never going to look at her again with those warm crimson eyes, or whisper "I love you," or purr when she brushed his hair, or just be there, a comforting, known presence in the shadows that never left her side when she went on solo, (but yet, never solo) missions for Reeve.

The crimson was gone, the air too quiet, her hands devoid of silky black hair, and the shadows too empty. Everything was empty, for everyone whose world had been destroyed, and all they could do was put on a brave face, and hide the still bleeding wounds away under the facades of heroes, shake off the armor that hid their true feelings from the world, and don it once more to become saviors of the world.

It was a façade, because sometimes, in a world that was empty of any reason to live, it was just so hard to care anymore if it was saved or destroyed.

They ignored the bickering, and headed down to where they knew the basement was- Sora had described it before for them, and they had been here after the keyholes were sealed to clean this place out of Heartless and Nobodies.

Down they went, and once again, it would have reminded Yuffie of the ShinRa basement, but it didn't go far enough down, and was too bright, and for that, Yuffie was grateful.

Cloud took out a device, and pulled up the single long antenna, waving it around to determine where the strange reading that they were sent here for was coming from.

There was a door, and the sense was obviously coming from within. Cloud drew to his large sword, handling it easily with one hand, while the other held the sensing device. Yuffie drew out her star, the points sharp and deadly, but a few parts of the ring that the spikes protruded from covered in cloth.

"_Hey, Vinnie Vin Vin! It's my birthday! Did you get me anything, like materia, or anything? I hope you did!" She bounced eagerly in front of him while, face void of all emotion, he drew out a package from within his cape. She pounced on it, and ripped the paper open, revealing a brand- new, shining shuriken, a bit smaller than her Conformer, but instinctively knew it was much faster and sharper than her old one. There was an inscription on the side- 'To my heart, Yuffie, whose love is impaled in my heart as surely as this shuriken will be impaled in the hearts of many of your enemies. –Vincent Valentine.'_

She polished the shuriken every night, and sharpened it, not going to bed until it was taken care of and once more gleaming clean, waiting to be used the next day to slay more of the creatures that had stolen her love.

She hefted it in her hand, and opened the door, since Cloud's hands were full. The device beeped madly, until annoyed, Cloud shut it off. It wasn't needed anymore, as they knew that the presence was in this room.

It was an odd room, full of wires and tables and pods whose lids were metal, preventing anything from being seen. The presence had to be in one of those, and Cloud and Yuffie approached the first one. She yanked the lid off, and stepped back. It was empty-

_Like all the other coffins had been empty, until a stubborn ninja persuaded a thickheaded chocobo- head to open the last one, and it revealed the most beautiful man in the world, in Yuffie's opinion._

They went through all of them, until only three were left.

With a sigh- thank God they were almost done- they pulled open the third to last one, and –

_He was black sin, and crimson passion, and white- hot heat, and all Yuffie wanted to do was burn in the flames that they created-_

And no, it couldn't be, her mind was playing tricks-

"_Yuffie!" She was pushed out of the way as the Dark Bomb came at her, and all she could do was watched as it knocked him back into the waves of Heartless-_

She had seen-

"_Yuffie! There's nothing we can do! We have to go!"_

She knew-

"_No! We can't leave Vinnie, oh, God, not my Vinnie! VinnieVinnieVinnie VINCENT!"_

He was dead.

_I'm sorry, Yuffie. But we can't dwell on the past." Her shuriken was handed to her, and gray eyes hardened. "Go out there, and kill as many of the bastards as you can."_

So, that meant that she had either cracked-

"_I'd go crazy without you, Vinnie. Just wanted to tell you, in case you got any ideas 'bout wandering off."_

Or he was really-

"…Vinnie?"

The red cloaked form shuddered, and lifted itself up from where it had fallen when they had opened up the pod. It sat up, shaking black hair out of the way, and slowly, so slowly, a crimson eye was cracked open. A relieved smile spread across a pale face, and that voice-

"_What's you_r _name?" A blink. "My name? It's Vincent Valentine."_

"Yuffie."

Oh, God, she must have finally gone insane, because he was _dead_, had finally accepted it, and now here was a fucking Vinnie hallucination and oh, God, now she was starting to cuss like Cid!

"Vincent? We thought you were dead. We saw you die. How… how did this happen?"

A long, slow blink, and the crimson eyes went from her to Cloud.

"Ah, hello, Cloud. I did not die. Organization XIII stepped in and brought me here. They wanted to see what would happen to an entity with five hearts if it was attempted to turn them into a Heartless. I believe they wanted to see if they could extract my demon's hearts, and use them for themselves."

"…Did it work?"

"Only slightly. Galian Beast, Hellmasker, and Death Gigas are gone, turned into Heartless and after that, unable to use the hearts that simply crumbled, they gave up. Instead, they focused on someone named Sora and a certain Kingdom Hearts, locking me here to keep me from attacking them."

He stood up, just as graceful as she remembered, and that spark of hope that had died long ago blinked back into existence. If Cloud was talking to her hallucination, then, either he was crazy, or Vincent... her Vinnie… was really…. Actually… alive. And standing right in front of her. And if he was, then why wasn't she glomping him? Oh, right. She had thought he was a hallucination. Well, the glomping solution could be rectified, then, couldn't it?

"Viniiiieeee!"

She flew at him, tackling him to the ground, and locked his mouth to his, and- yes! It was just as she remembered! That heat, and fire, and the way his tongue tangled with hers, and his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her close, making her feel so small, yet so safe, and she knew that she should have been embarrassed, because Cloud was there, but she _just. Didn't. Care._ Vincent, her precious Vinnie was here, and she knew that he'd be there, with his stupid pointy shoes, and warm red eyes, and deep, husky voice to sing away the nightmares, and take her fighting to work out her anger, and hold her close at night, and fill the silence with his voice telling her he loved her, and be there, filling up the shadows.

They pulled away, and her long- thought dead heart roared to life once more, and at a tempo that she never thought to experience again when he whispered, "I love you."

Cloud cleared his throat. "Sorry, but we need to finish this and go."

Yuffie winced at hearing the pain- filled voice. She hadn't realized how horribly unfair it was that she got her Vinnie back, when Cloud had to kill his love over and over again, and suffer much more anguish than she had ever had. It wasn't fair that she got her happy ending, and he didn't.

So, it confused and slightly angered her when Vincent simply pulled her closer, and buried his nose in her hair, inhaling deeply. "Hm, I think you can finish checking the pods, Cloud. There's nothing dangerous in them."

Yuffie frowned slightly. That was a bit cruel of Vincent, and it confused her even more when Vincent stared to chuckle lightly, pulling her face closer to his to stare deep into her eyes. "That was harsh."

He smiled, a smile that she had so ached to see for the longest time. It was still Vinnie, and there was amusement in his eyes. "No, it's not. I think he'll like what's inside that last pod."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "What's inside them?"

That hot, smooth mouth settled on hers again, and for a second, she lost herself in that kiss, until Vincent pulled away, breathing a bit heavier this time, and voice ragged and even more husky than usual with something that made her tingle all over, whispered, "A sane version of something he's been aching for."

Then, those hot, hot, hot lips were on hers again, and man, but it was hard to think when that tongue was doing such amazing things. But, ninjas have amazing multitasking abilities, and while she kissed Vincent back, and felt her way up that firm, muscled chest, it clicked. _Something sane… and he's been aching for it… Oh!_

Dimly, she heard the hiss of air as a pod was slid open, and the person inside must have not been in there as long as her Vinnie, because the person simply stepped right out. She felt Vincent smile through their kiss as they heard Cloud gasp, and couldn't keep her own smile off her face as she heard Cloud's breathless question.

"…Sephiroth?"

"Hello, Cloud."

Then there was a thump, and nothing else was said for a while from either pair of the reunited lovers.

It was sad that no one else could get their happy endings, yes. Cid never got his Shera back, and Leon is still searching for Rinoa. Merlin lost his king and foster son, King Arthur. Aerith never regained Zack, although she came back to life, and Tifa still searches for Rude. Many of their friends were lost, gone to the darkness, but some, mysteriously came back.

Seifer and Selphie, for instance, from Squall's world are in Twilight town and Destiny Islands respectively, younger than they should be and nobody has any idea how that happened.

And Vincent, even though he was never dead, still was found, and somehow, Sephiroth's sanity was restored, and he and Cloud were reunited. So, maybe, those thought lost are just that. Lost. Not the dead lost, just lost. Riku was wandering in the darkness for a full year before he was found, along with King Mickey.

So maybe, just maybe, they're still out there, just waiting for those they love to come find them. Maybe, in the end, everyone will be reunited, and this'll be just another big adventure, another notch to add in their belts of times they saved the world. Maybe, the world _is_ worth saving, and perhaps none of them will have to wear the concealing armor of the world's saviors anymore and have to hide their wounds, because they'll be healed, and they can wear the scars proudly and say, 'Look, I got through this, and won.'

Maybe someday, everything will be okay once more. But until then, all they can do is hope, and work towards making everything alright again, and this time, make the okayness of it last. Because, as a certain ninja once vowed, it _was_ going to last, because by God, they were going to _make_ it last.


End file.
